Mary Ashely Townsend
Poet, Novelist, and Author of Ye Hills of Wayne
Mary's home was north of Lyons, nestled in a valley running through the hills and drumlins that are found in that area. As a young school girl, Mary walked 1 1/2 miles on a winding dirt road to reach the little yellow school in Fellows Comers. On these daily trips she must have been observant of her surroundings-the rolling hills, Garnargua Creek flowing serenely alongside the road, meadows abundant with wild flowers, and cattle grazing in the pastures. She would later write of those images.
In school Mary loved learning to read books, was soon writing poetry, and when she outgrew the district school, continued her education at Lyons Free Academy. Little is known of Mary's early life in Wayne County, and Mary moved out of the area and relocated to New Orleans sometime before 1850. It is known that by the time Mary turned seventeen her first poem had been published, and by the time she was eighteen she was writing a column, An Hour out of the City, for the New Odeans Daily Delta.
Mary continued her writing career after she married her first cousin Gideon T. Townsend on November 8, 1952. For some time the couple resided in Fishkill, New York, Mary's father's hometown. Mary's writings were published in periodicals in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and the state of Iowa and during the next fifty years, Mary produced hundreds of poems under her name and the pen names Xariffa (sometimes spelled Zariffa), Mary Ashley, Crab Crossbones, and Michael O'Quillo. Mary wrote one novel in her lifetime, The Brother's Clerk.
In 1860 the Townsends moved to New Orleans and bought the home in which they would live until they died. Mary became an active secessionist, probably due to the fact that Mary's half-brother, Mr. Lyman, was an officer in the Confederate Army and a signer of the secession ordinance. The Townsends had three daughter's and, in 1863, Mrs. Townsend and her children visited Lyons.
One result of this trip was a book written by the oldest daughter, Cora Alice, called Under the Stones. In this work, that was published in 1866, Cora Alice describes her mother's birthplace in Lyons. Cora Alice, named 1876 Queen of the arnival of Mardi Gras, later married a wealthy Mexican, moved to her husband's estate, and gave her mother a villa on Lake Lapala, Mexico as a Christmas present.
High and well deserved honor's came to Mary Ashley Townsend from her adopted state, Louisiana, where she was chosen Poet Laureate for Rex, one of the famous New Odeans Mardi Gras organizations. She was one of the founders of the Literary Club of Tulane University and served as its president for seven years. Mrs. Townsend also received many honors from the Mexican government for her writings on Mexican life.
Mary Ashley Townsend died on June 7,1901, after succumbing to an illness caused from complications of injuries she suffered in a train accident. To the people of Wayne County, Mary Ashley Townsend's most notable work is Ye Hills of Wayne. The poem was written in 1877, first published in the New York Evening Post, and is sung to the tune of Maryland, My Maryland. The poem can be found in Riffles, a collection of works privately published in 1917 by DuBois Press, Rochester, NY.
top of page
return to history index
Copyright
© 1999
Newark Courier-Gazette
All Rights Reserved